Arike Ogunbowale hit a 3-pointer from the corner with a tenth of a second on the clock to lift Notre Dame to its second women’s basketball title, a 61-58 victory over Mississippi State in the NCAA championship game on Sunday night.
It was the second straight game that the junior guard hit a shot in the final second to carry the Irish. Her jumper with one second left knocked off previously unbeaten UConn in the semifinals.
With the game tied, Ogunbowale took the inbounds pass and dribbled to the corner, hitting the game-winner. The title came 17 years to the day after the Irish’s only other championship in 2001.
Notre Dame had been to the championship game four other times in the previous seven years, falling short each time. But this version of Muffet McGraw’s squad refused to lose. They pulled off the biggest comeback in title game history, rallying from a 15-point deficit in the third quarter and a five-point deficit in the final 1:58.
